Nearly Nine Months
by Kaijuju
Summary: "Erza! Get it out of Lucy!" He shouted, more like whined like a kid. He ran straight to the group, carrying a pained-yet-calm-looking Lucy. Natsu was throwing a tantrum. "Get it out of her! Get it out of heeeeeeeeeeeeer!"


Disclaimer: The characters of the awesome Fairy Tail aren't mine. Hiro Mashima owns them. However, I can proudly say that the story/plot is originally mine.

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><p><strong>Nearly Nine Months<strong>

**At two weeks:**

"You're seriously going to stand there while I take a bath?" Lucy asked incredulously.

Natsu shrugged and took a sit in a chair that he effortlessly carried from Lucy's kitchen towards her bathroom. "You might slip and hurt yourself and our–"

Lucy groaned. "Will you at least turn on your back? I'm getting all conscious here if you haven't noticed!"

The pink-haired dragon slayer snorted. "You're such a weirdo. It's not like I haven't seen you naked."

Regardless of what he said, he did what Lucy asked him to and turned so that he was facing the door.

* * *

><p><strong>At a month and a week:<strong>

The guild is in its usual lively atmosphere. However, it is only fifty percent lively since the one who makes half of the liveliness of the guild is currently sitting next to his girlfriend, arms wrapped up protectively around her abdomen.

"Natsu, go piss off Gray or fight Gajeel. I'm not going anywhere." Lucy suggested, taking a sip of a drink Mirajane concocted just for her.

"Yeah, flame head. You're like a gum stuck to Lucy. I hope one day she gets fed up by you and leave you." Gray commented while unconsciously stripping off his shirt.

"What did you say, you stupid ice?" Natsu shouted, lunging at him.

And there goes the guild sporting a hundred percent liveliness, again.

* * *

><p><strong>At two months and two weeks:<strong>

"Stop sulking, Natsu. You'll see _them_ in two days." Happy said, trying to cheer up a mummified Natsu.

Apparently, Erza decided that the best way to have Natsu do a mission is to tie him up and mummify him since the guy is hard bent on not leaving his girlfriend's side.

Natsu squirmed violently, mumbling something incoherent. Of course, with his current situation, no one could understand him except for Gajeel. The team, consisting of Erza, Gray, Natsu, Gajeel, Lily, and Happy, is on its way to finish up an S-class mission.

"He says, I shouldn't be here. I am the only one capable of giving what Lucy craves. I should be with _them_ right now. This is all you fault," Gajeel translated.

"Man up, will you, Natsu. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can go home." Gray said.

Natsu mumbled something, again. Gray looked at Gajeel. "He says, man up your butt, stupid stripper."

"What'd you say, flame-ass?" The two fought but Natsu is at a disadvantage because of the current situation he's in.

"Are you two seriously not going to stop?" Erza asked, irritation clearly shown in her face. The two has been bickering all day and Titania has had enough. The ice mage and the fire dragon slayer cowered.

After a few minutes, two mummified guys are hung over Gajeel's shoulder. "Geez, did you freaking ask me to join this mission just so I could babysit this two morons?" Gajeel asked.

"Just keep on walking." Erza commanded with finality.

"I wonder how Jellal puts up with her." Gajeel mumbled, making sure his voice will not reach Erza's ears.

"Maybe that Jellal guy is a masochist." Lily added.

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><p><strong>At three months:<strong>

The couple is having a heated conversation.

Natsu was glaring at Lucy. "I can't believe you went on a solo mission. I told you not to take on one, at all." He said sternly.

Lucy stared at him incredulously. "What? It's just a menial task."

"Even so. I told you not to strain yourself and I will take care of everything." He reasoned.

"It's not like I'm decapitated or something." Lucy shot back.

Natsu was about to retort when Erza tapped his head. "And now you're the one overstraining her."

He furrowed his brows and looked at Lucy, puzzled by what Erza had just said. It was clear as daylight that Lucy is on the verge of crying. The biting of her lips, the nonstop blinking of her eyes, her ragged breathing – all of that didn't go past Natsu's hawk-like eyes. He then understood.

The dragon slayer then reached for her hand across the table. "I'm sorry, Luce. It's just that I want both of you to be safe all the time." He said with sincerity. Lucy looked up at him and squeezed his hand in acknowledgement of his apology. She smiled.

"I know."

* * *

><p><strong>At four months and a day:<strong>

The blonde stellar mage was sitting up at her usual bar stool when Levy came up to her. "Lu-chan, how're you feeling?"

Lucy smiled. "We're doing good." She replied unconsciously rubbing her abdomen.

"That's good." Levy then looked up at the guild. "Dang, Natsu sure caused a lot of damage again."

Lucy sighed. "Sorry about this. Don't worry; I'll make him fix the things he destroyed."

Lisanna butted in. "No need to do that, Lucy. We all understand that Natsu means no harm and he just doesn't want to be separated with you."

"Especially with your condition." Levy added.

Mirajane gave Lucy another drink. "It's quite cute, you know. Him being all protective."

Lucy smiled. "But still, Natsu has the worst kind of separation anxiety."

"Again, because of your condition." Levy said.

The four ladies laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>At five months and five days:<strong>

Lucy was sitting upright in her bed, her back resting against the headboard. Her hands keep on stroking Natsu's hear. Said guy is currently cuddling her bulging stomach, drawing circles on it, and showering it with light kisses. She never knew that Natsu has this kind of sweet side into him, aside from being noisy, immature, and whiny most of the time.

"You should get ready now or else Erza will mummify you again."

Natsu pouted. "I don't care. And I don't want to. I'm staying with you." He reasoned like a kid, wrapping his arms around her belly, carefully resting his head on it, and giving it another kiss. Lucy blushed, continuously stroking Natsu's hair, lulling him to sleep.

The door to Lucy's apartment burst open.

"Natsu, if I don't see your butt in the guild in five minu-" Erza stopped. Her lips forming a smile at what she saw and quickly went out of their apartment.

Gray stood outside, arms crossed while leaning against the wall. "Well, where's Natsu?" He asked.

"I guess we just have to convince Gajeel to go with us."

Gray raised his brows. "Whatever you say."

* * *

><p><strong>At nearly six months:<strong>

Everyone looked. Wherever the three of them – Natsu, Lucy, and Happy – go, people kept on staring.

While everyone was staring, Lucy kept herself busy hiding her face n Natsu's chest, tightly grabbing onto his vest, too.

"We're almost at the guild, Lucy." Happy said.

Natsu looked down at his girlfriend, checking whether she's fine or not. "Are you okay, Luce. Do you need something? You're face is getting redder and redder." He commented, not noticing that the root of her current discomfort is him.

Lucy looked at him, half-glaring, and half-pouting. "I need you to put me down."

"No can do." He said, coolly and proceeded on walking towards their guild.

"Natsu, I can still walk, you know." She tried to explain.

"I know that. But Erza's going to kill me if I don't treat you like a princess."

Happy landed on Natsu's head, sitting comfortably. "It's true, Lucy. She said that she'll personally carry you if she doesn't see Natsu treating you like a princess."

"Well, if you really want to walk that badly then…" Natsu put her down gently and started walking towards the guild with Happy on tow "… I'll just let Erza be the one to carry you towards the guild across town." He smirked.

Lucy's eyes widened, vividly imagining that. It was, well, weird. Erza carrying Lucy in a princess-like manner is weird. And before Natsu can further the distance between them, she instantly pulled on his scarf, almost choking him to death.

"Carry me, now!" she demanded. Just like a _princess_.

Natsu smiled with triumph.

* * *

><p><strong>At seven months and twenty one days:<strong>

It is only noon and the townsmen wondered why the Fairy Tail Guild is eerily quiet. What they didn't know is that the members decided to pay a visit to the two guild mates and an exceed who rarely comes to the guild anymore.

For a small apartment where Lucy resides, she could not believe that it can accommodate the whole guild.

Lucy comfortably sitting on her bed observed her Fairy-Tail-guild-mates-infiltrated-apartment.

Gray is lazily sitting on the sofa, half-naked; whereas Juvia is sitting beside him, her mind is wandering in her wild imaginations of her Gray-sama punishing her. She 'kyaaa-ed' nonstop.

Meanwhile, Erza is sitting on the floor, quietly enjoying her strawberry cake. She looked so serene.

Cana is on the floor gulping a barrel of beer. Beside her are Makao and Wakaba playing cards while Reed is holding onto his sketchpad, drawing something.

Levy is admiring her wide array collections of books, picking ones she wanted to borrow. Of course, Jet and Droy are behind her, cheering her on choosing the right kind of book.

Lucy also noticed Gajeel, isolating himself yet again, in the far corner of her room staring hard at someone who is rummaging books on her shelf. Lucy giggled.

She looked at her kitchen. She saw Mirajane washing some dishes, Lisanna cooking something that made her stomach grumble, and Elfman carrying two huge grocery bags.

On her dinner table were the Raijin Tribe with Laxus casually talking about taking up another S-class mission.

Lucy motioned to stand up to help with Mirajane but was stopped because the hand of a certain fire dragon slayer tightened his hold on her hand. Lucy sighed and stroked her snoring boyfriend's hair affectionately.

"Natsu-san sure is doing his best." Wendy commented, walking up to Lucy.

"Yeah. I'm worried that he might overwork himself if he doesn't stop taking on missions for a while and have a rest."

Wendy giggled. "He's going to be a great father."

The stellar mage blushed. She still can't imagine both herself and Natsu as parents. For all she knew, both of them are still young to raise a child. But despite her worry, she knows that both of them will do a great job because, yeah, they're the strongest team in Fairy Tail anyway. She silently laughed at her inside joke. Noticing that Wendy is looking at her with puzzlement, she asked something that has been bothering her all afternoon. "Wendy, why is everyone here?"

Wendy turned around to look at Lucy's apartment occupied by their guild mates. She turned back to Lucy. "Well, you see, you and Natsu-san has not been coming over to the guild these days. Even if both of you will, only Natsu-san will drop by but only to check the request board or take up a mission. When we ask why you're not with him, he always tells us that you're at your apartment, resting. So today, when I arrived at the guild, I saw Mirajane, Lisanna, and Levy fixing some stuffs and they told me that they wanted to see how're you're doing. Slowly and unconsciously, everyone else followed and when we arrived here, Erza-san and Gray-san are already in here. Master also wanted to come but he had an important meeting with the council today. Oh and Alzack-san and Bisca-san are on a mission" Wendy explained, catching her breath.

Lucy was touched. "Natsu has been kind of… hmm… he's been too caring since you know. That's why we rarely go to the guild."

"Oh really? I thought for a moment that Natsu is the one who wears the pants in your relationship." Charles butted in, casually seating beside Lucy.

Lucy sweat dropped. "That's not the case. Sometimes I'm just too tired to argue with him."

Happy flew and landed next to Charles. "It's true. Natsu's like a nagging mother. Whenever he arrives and catches Lucy doing any household chores, he would reprimand Lucy."

"Too protective." Charles snorted.

"Charles! I think it's sweet." Wendy said, dreamily.

Charles turned to her. "You'd want Romeo to treat you like that, too?"

Wendy blushed. "No!" She squeaked.

Happy raised his paws excitedly. "If you want, I would treat you like that, Charles."

Charles stuck her nose in the air and cutely flushed. "I don't like being reprimanded. Thank you very much."

Lucy giggled at the antics of the three. "I hope he wakes up soon and see that everyone came to see him… us. I'm sure he'll be happy." She said while caressing Natsu's unruly hair.

She then felt Natsu stirred; his hold on her hand tightening. Lucy smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>At eight months and twenty nine days:<strong>

Lucy's breathing is uneven. She held onto her stomach. _"Maybe it's just one of those contractions. Poluchka said that I'm not yet due until next week." _She thought, biting her lower lip. She felt another wave of pain. Lucy then looked at Natsu, who is sprawled on his back, snoring peacefully. _"This is nothing. I'll just sleep it off."_ She carefully laid herself in bed and was about to close her eyes when suddenly, she felt wet. Her eyes widened. Surely she didn't just piss. Lucy immediately sat upright and started waking Natsu.

"Natsu! Natsu! The baby's coming!"

Natsu rolled on his side, his mind still in his dreamland. Lucy groaned. She decided to wake the Exceed next.

"Happy! Wake up! Help me wake Nats-" Another contraction. _"It hurts."_

She inhaled and gave it another shot into waking Natsu. She shook him wildly. "Natsu! I'm going to have the baby! The baby's coming out!" She screamed – still no response from the pink-haired dragon slayer. Lucy sighed. She didn't want to do this but this is the only thing she thought that only sane mages can do to wake a stubborn slumbering dragon slayer – punch him in the face, _hard_.

"OW! What gives, Luce?" Natsu whined. He shot up straight, nursing his aching right cheek. He stopped complaining when he heard Lucy's ragged breathing. He then looked at her and noticed that she's clutching her stomach, tears trickling down her cheeks. Suddenly he was beside her.

"Luce, are you alright? Where does it hurt? What's going on?" He rambled on.

She shut her eyes. "The baby… the baby's coming out." She whispered, trying to catch her breath.

It took Natsu exactly three seconds to register what was happening. He quickly whisked Lucy and carried her, also grabbing the tail of a sleeping Happy.

He ran across the town. Though it was past twelve in the morning, Natsu was sure that there was still someone reliable lounging in the guild. He kicked the door open. Luck is probably on his side because he immediately spotted Erza and Jellal engaging in a serious talk with their Master. The three looked at the door and saw a frantic Natsu carrying a very quiet Lucy. Erza wanted to laugh seeing a distress Natsu but decided not to since the situation doesn't call for it.

"Erza! Get it out of Lucy!" He shouted, more like whined like a kid. He ran straight to the group, carrying a pained-yet-calm-looking Lucy. Natsu was like throwing a tantrum. "Get it out of her! Get it out of heeeeeeeeeeeeer!" He shrieked.

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><p>How was it?<p>

HAHA. Sorry for the cliffhanger. Don't worry for I'm currently writing the next chapter for this. This'll be a two-shot.

_Reviews_ are highly **appreciated. **


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